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Exercising his veto power for the first time, Reynoldsburg Mayor Brad McCloud shot down the City
Council’s plan to raise income taxes for 80 percent of the city’s workers.

McCloud vetoed the measure on Thursday, three days after the council narrowly approved cutting
the city’s income-tax credit by half. The move would have forced residents who work in other cities
to pay 0.75 percent income tax to Reynoldsburg on top of what they pay elsewhere. Right now, they
pay Reynoldsburg nothing.

The council needs a two-thirds majority vote to override McCloud, which seems unlikely. Four
members voted for the plan on Monday; Leslie Kelly, Barth Cotner and Chris Long rejected it.

McCloud, in his sixth year as mayor, said he thought the credit cut clashed with another move
the council made on Monday night: placing a 1-percentage-point income-tax-increase question on the
November ballot.

“I didn’t think it was the right thing to do,” McCloud said. “I think it sends the wrong message
to the voters to say we’re going to forcibly vote a tax on you” and also ask for a tax
increase.

The council’s actions didn’t garner much attention during Monday’s meeting, but residents
afterward took their objections to Facebook and email. There was talk of a phone blitz and a
recall, of signs and petitions.

“We were very lively (Monday) night,” said resident Les Davies, who works in Columbus and would
have been affected by the increase.

The focus shifts now to keeping pressure on the three council members who voted no, Davies said.
Residents also will have to consider that fall vote, which will be the fourth time Reynoldsburg has
asked to hike the city income tax to 2.5 percent.

McCloud said he’s not discouraged by the three previous failures. He said the city, which has
a$14 million general-fund budget, needs the money.

“The income-tax credit being a credible alternative — albeit an unpopular one — may spur some
people to say, ‘You know what? There is a better way to do this,’ ” he said.

The additional tax would mean more police officers, stronger city infrastructure and an improved
park system, McCloud said. It would provide better care for parks and recreation vehicles, so none
would break down during the middle of a Fourth of July parade, as happened this year.